***The Official Mid-Length Thread***

Northern_Shores

Miki Dora status
Mar 30, 2009
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Random photo of random guy with sh!t technique
It's from an official review by Apartheid Yuri (not random guy). He has sh!t technique, but that's how people look when surfing these mongo boards. 7 foot shitfin pintail with a butthull bottom and you think they gonna rip?!

MADE OUTTA WOOD FROM OUT BACK THE SHED :roflmao:
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,126
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33.8N - 118.4W
Thanks for answering, rowjimmytour, Woke AF, and kool-aid....that was the direction I was headed. Just was wondering if I wasn't considering something.
My dos centavos- I like swallows. I forgot who it was (maybe Rusty? maybe Gerlach?) who said there were two kinds of tails- pins/round pins and everything else. Everything else has a "corner." Actually come to think of it it was Gerlach who said he liked swallows because he could feel the end of the board and the end had bite.

The only time I would consider the pin tails is in really top to bottom stuff. My impression of OBSF from videos is that it throws out but generally the bottom half of the wave has some slope. It's not a dredgy, bottomless pit.

I would go swallow.

Or hell, yolo, buy both.

random google first vid to pop up-

 
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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the guy was a bigger dude....guessing around 50-55....saw him driving losse and extremely fast down the line of a screaming shoulder high left...board looked liek it was made for the walled conditions. guy looked to be surfing better than he should have been able to
That sounds like me bitd only Id be on a <= 6’6 vintage single fin I got off CL.
Wayne Rich Power Fin ftw!

Im not sure I ever surfed better than I should’ve but I definitely caught my share of waves thanks to all that 70s foam.
 

estreet

Miki Dora status
Feb 19, 2021
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Southern Cali
the guy was a bigger dude....guessing around 50-55....saw him driving losse and extremely fast down the line of a screaming shoulder high left...board looked liek it was made for the walled conditions. guy looked to be surfing better than he should have been able to
I’d credit that to its lightness and looseness for its size, and because of the size its stability. Also, the natural flow of a bigger board and not having to work as hard to generate speed like you do on a short board.
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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33.8N - 118.4W
I just walked past my board rack this morning (waves are tiny so no surfing) and noticed that 4 of my boards have tri plane bottoms. 5'8" mini Simmons, 5'10" TKF (twin keel fish), 6'6" round pin, 6'6" fish nosed, diamond tail. I love them.
Woiuld you call the board Maz posted a triplane?
 

Maz

Michael Peterson status
May 18, 2004
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Innzid
I just walked past my board rack this morning (waves are tiny so no surfing) and noticed that 4 of my boards have tri plane bottoms. 5'8" mini Simmons, 5'10" TKF (twin keel fish), 6'6" round pin, 6'6" fish nosed, diamond tail. I love them.
That south swell just not getting into the Sunny Coast, aye. Been pretty much pumping on the North Coast all week.
 
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hotCheetos

OTF status
Mar 28, 2020
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how do i size a mid length? do i add 5 / 10 liters to my usual shortboard volume? was looking at the CI mid dims for reference and they seemed light but thats prob because they are performance driven. I got a shoulder injury and longboarding puts a lot less strain on it than shortboarding but im sick of riding my beater foamie. im 215 shortboards usually around 38 39 liters usual;y get custom bc otr dims are too small for me. worried same my happen if i go otr mid length.
 

Northern_Shores

Miki Dora status
Mar 30, 2009
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how do i size a mid length? do i add 5 / 10 liters to my usual shortboard volume? was looking at the CI mid dims for reference and they seemed light but thats prob because they are performance driven. I got a shoulder injury and longboarding puts a lot less strain on it than shortboarding but im sick of riding my beater foamie. im 215 shortboards usually around 38 39 liters usual;y get custom bc otr dims are too small for me. worried same my happen if i go otr mid length.
Leave that thought and this thread before it's too late.
 

flyinraptr

Michael Peterson status
Dec 18, 2008
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San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
how do i size a mid length? do i add 5 / 10 liters to my usual shortboard volume? was looking at the CI mid dims for reference and they seemed light but thats prob because they are performance driven. I got a shoulder injury and longboarding puts a lot less strain on it than shortboarding but im sick of riding my beater foamie. im 215 shortboards usually around 38 39 liters usual;y get custom bc otr dims are too small for me. worried same my happen if i go otr mid length.
Really depends on what your take is on what a mid-length is .... seems to be a catch-all phrase for anything between around 6'6" to 7'6". I also had a bad shoulder injury a few years ago ... i didn't want to stay out of the water for a lengthy period of time ... so i started riding bigger boards with more foam ... thinking it would be easier on the shoulder. What i found is the most strain is not from paddling but from duck diving and the overall managing of the board. I re-injured my shoulder a couple of times because of it. I found that egg style mid-lengths especially over 7' ... tend to put the most strain. My shoulder is completely healed now but i tread lightly ... if the waves are firing my go to is a 6'10" x 21 1/8 x 2 3/4 single fin with channel bottom and EPS construction .... the board is light and fast ... paddles well and is easy to duck dive in head high surf and performs extremely well in fast barreling conditions. I will ride it in anything from waist to a couple feet OH if the conditions are good. If the waves are small and lacking energy (ie. not likely to be difficult duck diving)... i will tend to opt to something with a little more foam or one of my twinzers to mix things up.

The 6'10" ...

20210811_112142.jpg

20210811_112213.jpg
 

potato-nator

Phil Edwards status
Nov 10, 2015
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mid-length means midway between sboar and lboar; sized relative to
your sb/lb tastes. there has never been so much to choose from. can't
advise one specifically but i LOVE mine which is a skinny/eggy singfin w/sidebytes..
7/10in x 2 3/4 in x 21 3/4 in x 57L for my size which 6ft 210lbs..:shaka:
 

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
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PNW
how do i size a mid length? do i add 5 / 10 liters to my usual shortboard volume? was looking at the CI mid dims for reference and they seemed light but thats prob because they are performance driven. I got a shoulder injury and longboarding puts a lot less strain on it than shortboarding but im sick of riding my beater foamie. im 215 shortboards usually around 38 39 liters usual;y get custom bc otr dims are too small for me. worried same my happen if i go otr mid length.
volume isn't everything so it's hard to give perfect advice based on that factor alone. that said for someone your size adding just 5L over your shortboard volume won't be a drastic improvement in paddling ease and overall cheat factor IMO. you don't need to go crazy and get a giant 8 ft. barge but you may as well get something that will really move around the lineup and have some glide and different sensations than your shortboards. Given your weight I just wouldn't go too small is basically what I'm saying.

I haven't ridden a CI mid but I've given them a fondle and based on that and what I've seen and read on here they are not super good in small and/or mushy waves. They are fairly svelt for a middy with a somewhat pulled in tail and seem to come alive in decent chest+ surf. Depending on the waves you surf that might be perfect for you but I just thought it was worth mentioning.
 

chilly1

Nep status
Jan 4, 2010
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how do i size a mid length? do i add 5 / 10 liters to my usual shortboard volume? was looking at the CI mid dims for reference and they seemed light but thats prob because they are performance driven. I got a shoulder injury and longboarding puts a lot less strain on it than shortboarding but im sick of riding my beater foamie. im 215 shortboards usually around 38 39 liters usual;y get custom bc otr dims are too small for me. worried same my happen if i go otr mid length.
It all depends on how much performance you want from your middy. I think the best all-around guide would be 1' over your height. My 7"2" Andreini is a little under that and it's perfect all around. I have CI Mid at 7'6 which was intended for OH crowded point surf but took it out today in pretty good uncrowded point surf today because my knee hurt and intended to pretty much cruise straight and that was a blast! Even ad chest high round housing ( I couldn't resist) a lengthly board at speed it a very satisfying sensation. or you could go 6" overhead and rip, a lot of good options.
 

toowalled

Nep status
Jul 3, 2014
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how do i size a mid length? do i add 5 / 10 liters to my usual shortboard volume? was looking at the CI mid dims for reference and they seemed light but thats prob because they are performance driven. I got a shoulder injury and longboarding puts a lot less strain on it than shortboarding but im sick of riding my beater foamie. im 215 shortboards usually around 38 39 liters usual;y get custom bc otr dims are too small for me. worried same my happen if i go otr mid length.
If you want to surf small summer waves and catch lots of them this is a better option. Or buy my egg and i will pick this one up:DImo mid lengths are best for chest high reef breaks where you can do some full rail turns
 
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